Alex McLeish lasted seven matches as Nottingham Forest manager. Ange Postecoglou will not break that record, but make no mistake: this is situation critical. Postecoglou promises to win in his second season. He should be more concerned about his second month in Nottingham.
The City Ground has been many things since Forest were promoted back to the Premier League: joyous, visceral, chaotic, proud, worried, nervous, demanding, riotous and raucous. It had never been toxic before, not when Steve Cooper was losing nor when Nuno Espirito Santo suffered a stick early patch after his first home win. That changed on Thursday evening.
After FC Midtjylland’s third goal, the chant started in the Lower Bridgford end that Postecoglou would be sacked in the morning. It progressed quickly to “On the piss with Nuno”, the glorious ode to away days when Forest seemed to swat aside all and sundry.
In front of Evangelos Marinakis, sat glumly in front of his giant television in the Main Stand, some supporters turned around and gestured as if to ask what on earth was going on.
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Ange Postecoglou responds to the loss and "sacked in the morning" chants from Nottingham Forest fans
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A first European home game was supposed to provide memories of fabulous history and a chance for a new manager to get an overdue first victory. Forest’s incompetence ensured a new nadir in this quickly unravelling new mini-era. Defenders looked spooked when defending corners and the attacking returns are insufficient to justify such generosity.
In Seville, Forest were magnificent for periods of the first half. Now the good stuff has gone, replaced by a fragmentation of supposed Angeball. Forest had lots of shots but it’s hard to see how they create high-value chances and patently obvious how they will concede them.
The most alarming issue was how incapable Postecoglou was of changing the game. Chris Wood was the only tactical substitution despite a bench including an unused winger, attacking midfielder and central midfielder.
This appointment had to go well quickly; everybody knew that following Nuno was a hospital pass. There should be some sympathy with Postecoglou that he is attempting all this weeks into a new season. Playing twice a week gives you little time on the training ground and early injuries haven’t helped.
But there are two caveats to mention. Firstly, we are already seeing the hallmarks of the Tottenham decline: poor set-piece defending, central defenders breaking down after coming back from injury, a team that plays on the edge and yet the benefits of doing so never quite become apparent.
But also, and this is crucial: Forest supporters watched Spurs last season. They are not fools and they expressed doubts about whether this could work. To be told by their manager after the game that it was “desire and determination” that caused issues rather than any organisational flaw is such a stretch that it makes you wince.
The anger on Thursday was partly about the individual on the touchline, but also at an avoidable risk that now threatens Forest’s Premier League future (and anyone who thinks this team is too good to go down is surely wrong).
In a single summer, Forest have changed the structure of the club to include Edu. They have changed the manager. They have changed the style of play. They have changed half the team and on Thursday they changed the formation too. It is too much, too quickly.
In doing so, they have inadvertently evaporated most of what this team was very good at last season: defending their penalty area, putting bodies on the line, getting wingers running into space rather than receiving the ball to feet, keeping clean sheets, creating a siege mentality of us against the world at the City Ground.
Forest are learning to play with the ball and competitive football at this level is an inappropriate classroom. This is why managers like to have a pre-season.
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Nuno’s departure became inevitable from the moment he spoke publicly about his relationship with the owner (and his boss). There are Forest supporters who believe he was deliberately engineering an exit. But the reports of a breakdown in relationship with Edu reflect that the club made their call with who to back. Right now that looks like a dismal decision.
Where this goes next is obvious in a literal sense: Newcastle, Chelsea, Porto and Bournemouth. On the evidence of Thursday, Forest will do well to avoid four defeats and then crisis really will begin to cling to them like a thick coat worn in a sauna.
But the appropriate questions are far broader about direction and identity. Forest have flourished over the last two years through heavy but targeted investment, through an inspirational coach and through a tactical identity that everybody bought into. The City Ground was an extension of the team. On Thursday, for the first time, a clear split as the goodwill ripped apart like a Postecoglou defensive line.
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